Leonard Mabane (1851-1912)--Stable Boy for General Robert E. Lee

By Barbara J. Hamilton
Copied from The Gazette (Jefferson, Ohio), 14 February 2007


    At about the age of 11-12 years, Leonard Mabane, as a slave, was 
drafted into the Confederate Army. General Robert E. Lee took note of 
the young boy and must have seen a reason to trust him with the General's 
valued horse.

    The large gray stallion was Lee's prized possession and many 
pictures of the General astride his famous horse were taken after the 
war ended. It was the young Leonard Mabane who made sure the horse 
received the best of care.

    Mabane was all alone.

    His entire family had been dispersed to other owners. He never knew 
his actual birth date, but he estimated he was born about 1851.

    His birth took place on a North Carolina plantation.

    Under the leadership of General Lee, he was at the Battle of 
Gettysburg. Perhaps Lee's heart was tender toward the young lad and 
knowing the keeping of the horses would keep the boy off the 
battlefield, he chose to give him that duty.

    When the Confederate soldiers under Pickett's charge recoiled, young 
Mabane was recorded as being with General Lee.

    Mabane would later recount the sight of seeing, "Lee riding out to 
meet the shattered followers of Pickett and saw Lee as he removed his 
hat and bowed, saying that he was to blame for the decision to 'make the 
charge.' "

    None of the many newspaper articles concerning Mabane mentions any 
time spent in the Union Army, yet his headstone says that he spent time 
fighting as a Union soldier after he escaped from slavery.

    No mention is made of his time spent in the Confederate Army. If the 
information on the tombstone, erected after Mabane's death, is correct, 
we must assume that he escaped slavery in the south, left the 
Confederate Army and made his way to the Union forces and freedom.

    Another possibility is that by the time Mabane died, his service in 
the Civil War had ended 57 years before. Perhaps those who erected the 
monument either did not know of his time spent in the Confederate Army 
of they failed to mention it.

    After the war ended, Mabane traveled north until he reached 
Ashtabula County. The Follet family of Pierpont, well-known anti-slavery 
advocates, took him into their home. The Follets were childless and 
happy to welcome the young man onto their little farm on Caine Road, 
northwest of Pierpont.

    On the 1874 Atlas of Ashtabula County, land consisting of 64 1/2 
acres in the northwest part of Pierpont is owned by Emily Follet. In the 
1905 Atlas of Ashtabula County, the land mass has increased to 67 1/2 
acres and it is still listed under the name of Emily Follet.

    The property is about a mile from the one room Graham Road School 
once located in the southwest corner of Graham Road and Route 7.

    Mabane did not have the opportunity for an education and upon 
learning, at the deaths of the Follets, that he had inherited the farm 
and land, it was his expressed desire that upon his death, the money 
from the estate would be used to help the local school.

    Unfortunately, Mabane, probably unable to read or afford an 
attorney, had never written his desire on paper.

    The case went to court and the judge's hands were tied. Without a 
will, Mabane's money would go to the state. But the judge made the only 
choice he could in the matter. He allowed all the money ($500.00 in 
1912), to be used for a monument over Mabane's gravesite.

    Today, you can view the impressive large headstone in the Evergreen 
Cemetery in Pierpont on Cemetery Road. Unfortunately, the stone does not 
mention Mabane's service in the Confederate Army.

    Either the headstone is incorrect, or Mabane escaped from the 
southern forces and joined the Union army.

    It would be a fitting tribute to the memory of Leonard Mabane to 
establish a scholarship named in his honor to fulfill his desire to help 
students and schools. Although he never received an education, a 
scholarship, school fund or donation in his honor would be a fitting 
legacy.

    Information concerning Leonard Mabane was gathered from the 1985 
Ashtabula County History and old newspaper articles.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara J. Hamilton 

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